What "unopposed" means, and what your options are

What "unopposed" means on your ballot

A candidate is unopposed when they are the only person on the ballot for that office. It happens for many reasons: no one else qualified, the other candidates withdrew, or the seat did not attract a challenger this cycle.

Unopposed races still appear on your ballot. You have three options:

• Vote for the candidate.
• Write in another name, if your county's ballot allows write-ins for that office.
• Skip the race and move on.

Skipping a race is not spoiling your ballot

Leaving one race blank does not invalidate any of your other votes. Every race is counted separately. This is true for every race on the ballot, not just unopposed ones.

Why we describe rather than judge

Whether an unopposed race reflects a healthy or unhealthy political environment is a value judgment. Different voters will reach different conclusions.

Our job here is to describe how the mechanism works. What you do with that information is up to you.